


Those Who Matter

by katikat



Category: Bravetown (2015)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-06
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-11 11:18:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12934125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: There’s a fire. But Jim saves the most important thing. (Unbeta'd)





	Those Who Matter

**Author's Note:**

> Me and my friend realized that there were no fics for Lucas Till's movie Bravetown (Strings). And so we wrote a couple on Tumblr.

When Jim gets home that night, he finds everything on fire. He climbs out of his truck, shocked and dazed, and he just stands there, staring in utter desolation at the destruction of everything that he holds dear.

And then he remembers…

* * *

“… and I found him in his room… b-beaten bloody, uncon-unconscious…”

That’s the first thing that Mary hears when she barges into the emergency room of their local hospital with Tony on her heels; both are wide-eyed and scared after hearing the news about the fire at Mr. Wallace's house. Now she stops so abruptly that Tony actually runs into her, bouncing off and almost falling, and her heart climbs into her throat, making it hard for her to breathe.

Because there he is, Josh’s father, sitting in one of the chairs in the waiting room. His clothes are charred, his face’s dark with soot except for where tears washed his cheeks clean, his eyes are red-rimmed from crying and smoke and his hands… his hands are covered with gauze because they’re burned raw in several places.

Jim rubs his nose with the back of his hand, heedless of the white bandage now turned dark gray. He coughs and goes on telling the deputy, who’s standing over him with a notepad and a sympathetic expression on his face, what happened.

“I tried to shake him awake but I couldn’t - it was useless, he wouldn’t wake up, he wouldn’t wake up, Tom,” Jim says, looking up at the deputy. “Someone beat my boy bloody, smashed all of his equipment and then-and then they let him  _burn_. Who would do that? Who would do such a thing?! He’s seventeen!”

Tom, Deputy Marsh, reaches out and pats Jim on the shoulder. “I don’t know, Jim, but we’ll find them, I promise. Do either you or your son have enemies? Anyone you can think of who would want to hurt your boy?”

Jim starts to shake his head, then he pauses. “Wait, there was someone. One night, he came home with a bloody lip and bruises but he refused to tell me who did it–”

“It was Michael!” Tony calls out as he sneaks around his sister. “Mary’s ex. He and his friends. Michael was jealous of Josh.”

Mary grabs for him, hissing his name, but he slips out of her grasp and goes on, heading for the men, so she follows him quickly. “I saw Michael hit Josh, really hard, too. At school. But Josh didn’t wanna say anything. He didn’t wanna cause trouble. Is he gonna be okay, Mr. Wallace? Is Josh gonna be okay?”

When Tony falls silent, he’s standing right in front of Jim Wallace, breathless and tearful and scared. Mary catches up with him and drops her hands onto his thin shoulders from behind, squeezing gently in comfort.

“Good evening, Mr. Wallace,” she says quietly. She’s just as impatient to get answers, just as scared for Josh as Tony but she’s trying her best to hold back, to hold it together. Because someone has to. And it’s always been her.

Jim stares at them for a moment, still in shock. At first, it seems as if he doesn’t even recognize them, then he shakes his head and pulls himself together. “Uh, yes. Mary, right? Mary Johnson. And… Tony?” He looks at the deputy. “This is my son’s girlfriend and her little brother.”

The deputy greets them with a nod, then he looks down at Tony. “You were talking about a boy named Michael? Can you give me his full name?”

Mary does it for him because Tony can’t tear his eyes away from Josh’s father, silently pleading with the man to tell them about Josh. Mary can feel her little brother shake, almost vibrate under her hands. It’s like what happened with Robert all over again.

Deputy Marsh takes it all down, names and addresses and everything else, and then he leaves, he finally leaves them alone, Mary, Tony and Josh’s father who sits there looking old and almost frail. Mary never thought she would ever see Mr. Wallace as frail!

“Mr. Wallace…” Tony whispers but his voice breaks and he can’t continue. He can’t ask again. Because if Josh is… if he’s… Deep down Mary knows that they wouldn’t recover from that. Not after Robert.

“I don’t know, kid,” Jim tells Tony softly, giving him an honest answer, and his breath hitches in his throat. “When I pulled him out of the house, out of the fire” –he looks down at his burned hands– “he wasn’t breathing. I tried, I did my best. And then the ambulance arrived and they pushed me away and…” He looks around, lost. “Nobody told me anything since we arrived here.”

“It’ll take a while, it’s normal,” Mary says kindly even though her heart demands that she goes and makes some noise and demands answers - but she knows it would be useless. This is not the first time that she’s standing here, in this waiting room, after all.

Jim looks at her with so much despair, so much need for reassurance that it makes her heart hurt. Josh never told her what actually happened between him and his parents, not in detail, but she has no doubt that this man loves his son.

And then the door at the end of the corridor opens and a woman walks out, a doctor in scrubs and with her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. She spots them immediately - the waiting room’s small and otherwise empty - and she heads in their direction.

Mr. Wallace jumps to his feet.

* * *

Jim’s there when Josh finally wakes up. He’s been there the whole time since he has no other place to go - his home’s gone, everything he owned is gone except for his truck - but even if he had, this is where he would be.

He scoots closer to his son’s bed and when Josh’s wandering gaze lands on him, turning from confused to startled, Jim smiles and reaches out to squeeze Josh’s forearm. “Hey,” he whispers.

Josh stares at him for a long moment. He just  _stares_. His face’s terribly bruised and cut but most of the swelling’s gone down by now. He’s looking at his father silently and then, after a small eternity, he croaks out, “You’re here.”

Jim’s confused for a moment but then he just shrugs and his smile widens. “Of course I’m here. Where else would I be?” he asks, then he offers his son a glass of water with a straw to sip from.

Frowning a little, Josh accepts and drinks, not looking away from Jim. “Thanks,” he says when he’s done.

“How are you feeling?” Jim asks as he sets the glass aside.

“As if I was run over by a truck,” Josh admits, closing his eyes.

“Yeah, that I can believe. You got broken ribs and a broken nose and bruises all over…” Jim falls silent and swallows, overcome with emotions. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

Opening his eyes again, Josh looks at his father and only then does he notice the bandages on his hands. “What happened?” he asks with concern.

Jim looks down at his hands and turns them this way and that. “The boys who beat you, Michael and his friends–” He sees his son tense so he adds quickly, “Don’t worry, they confessed to everything. They’re taken care of, I promise.”

Josh frowns. “Why would they confess?”

Sighing, Jim explains, “Because after they hurt you, after they left - the mess they caused, your broken equipment, it shorted out. There was a fire. You almost died in it. So, they could either confess to what they  _actually_ did - or get charged with attempted murder. They chose confession and a milder sentence.”

Again, Josh stares at his father quietly for a long time. Then he whispers, “Your house’s gone?”

Jim smiles a little painfully. “Yeah. Yeah, it is. But I managed to save the most important thing,” he adds and squeezes Josh’s forearm again. “Everything else can be replaced.”

Blinking hard, Josh looks away, rubbing his nose with the back of his hand. Jim’s heart seizes a little when he sees that, recognizing his own gesture in his son’s.

Determined to lighten up the mood a little, Jim says, grinning, “Speaking of that, I promised to call Tony and Mary the moment you woke up. They stayed over till the nurses kicked them out. Tony already started organizing a fundraiser to pay for your new equipment. Mary’s dancing team, the whole school actually, is in. It’s become quite a big deal here in town overnight.”

Josh looks at him, uncertain and maybe even a little wary. “But…  _why_?” he asks, his voice raspy again.

“Because they  _like_ you,” Jim tells him in a “well, duh” tone. “Michael and his idiot friends aside,  _everybody_ here in town likes you. Mary’s mother, Annie, she even brought us some clothes. Her late husband’s for me and…  _Robert’s_ for you,” he finishes in a quiet voice. “Mary said it was the first time her mother admitted out loud that Robert wouldn’t need them anymore.”

Looking at the pile of clothes neatly stacked in a chair in the corner of the room, Josh looks… startled, as if he doesn’t know what to say, and there’s some color in his cheek again that doesn’t come from bruises.

Jim clears his throat. And now to the hard part. “I checked in with your therapist and explained to him what happened - he stopped by, too. Nice guy. But… your mother…” He trails off and drops his eyes for a moment.

Josh swallows and clenches his jaw. “She can’t come,” he finishes for his father.

“She just couldn’t afford to take a few days off at work,” Jim rushes to explain but when Josh  _looks_ at him, he falls silent because even to his ears that excuse sounds lame.

But then Jim shakes his head, and leaning forward, he states emphatically, “It doesn’t matter. I’m here. And Mary and Tony and… and Annie. And your friends from the dance team. Everyone  _else_ is here. Everyone who  _matters_ … is here.”

For a very long time, Josh just stares at him again, searching his face, his eyes for something - and obviously, he finds it. Because in the end, he nods slowly and whispers in a hoarse voice, “Yes, they are.”


End file.
